Causing wrong while doing good: On the question of liability for volunteers in emergencies
Kristoffer Albris, Assistant Professor at the Department of Anthropology, recently contributed to the Journal 'Environmental Hazards' with Kristian Lauta, Associate Dean for education, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.
The new article raises the following questions: What happens when people commit wrongs while trying to do good in disaster situations? How do legal and political systems balance encouraging citizens to help one another while holding people responsible for wrongdoings? By discussing the existing research literature and legal cases pertaining to the question of liability for, what is defined as´volunteers, the reseachers argue that current understandings of liability are inadequate given recent calls for communities and citizens to become more disaster resilient and take on a larger role in response and preparedness work.